Don Saladino answers: Is bodybuilding unhealthy in the top competitive level?
In general, fitness and bodybuilding is seen as a healthy endeavor. It’s a lifestyle change to help transform your body into something more fit and more active, keeping body fat off and building muscle mass. It involves major shifts in diet and exercise – these are all good things for your health and longevity. But what about the pro level of competitive bodybuilding? Additional supplements, performance enhancing drugs, and a massive amount of food go into creating a 250+ pound bodybuilder. Is that healthy? In our latest GI Exclusive interview, celebrity trainer Don Saladino explains why he believes competitive bodybuilding can be a very dangerous form of fitness.
Don Saladino describes himself as a leading strength trainer who just so happens to work with big name celebrities. But if you look at his clientele you’ll find dozens of celebrities that he has worked with ranging from Ryan Reynolds, Blake Lively, and Jake Gyllenhaal among others. There’s a reason many celebrities go to him for their movie role transformations – he’s talented and knowledgable about what he does.
With that pedigree, we wanted to ask Don Saladino his thoughts on competitive bodybuilding, such as what you see with Mr. Olympia competitors. Specifically, is competitive bodybuilding a healthy form of fitness? Don has worked and personally known some bodybuilders. From what he can see, he believes that it can be a dangerous form of fitness in the long run.
Don Saladino admits he is no doctor but just the pure knowledge of the performance enhancing drugs that go into the sport and the mass amounts of food that bodybuilders need to eat raises red flags for him. Don continues to use athletes like Dorian Yates and Jay Cutler as examples. These are legendary pro bodybuilders who decided they didn’t want to be big like that anymore. Why? Because they most likely knew it was unhealthy. Dorian certainly says as much in our feature documentary Dorian Yates: The Original Mass Monster.
But coming off the lifestyle of a massive competitive bodybuilder isn’t easy either. Don Saladino compares it to coming off alcoholism or other drugs. You need to ease off and not go cold turkey. The massive shift in your diet and supplementation can have drastic effects on your body. Don describes a friend of his who went through it as an example.
Get full insight into Don Saladino’s knowledge as he explains in full detail by watching our GI Exclusive interview segment above!
Let us know what you think in the comments below. Also, be sure to follow Generation Iron on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.
